


One Little Vendetta

by Im_Chamsae



Series: The Worlds of Stephanie Brown [6]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25465171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_Chamsae/pseuds/Im_Chamsae
Summary: If there’s one thing that all of the Bats had noticed over the years, it was that Stephanie was a bit possessive over her bathroom. Like really possessive.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Series: The Worlds of Stephanie Brown [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756969
Comments: 8
Kudos: 64





	One Little Vendetta

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fact: 
> 
> ‘Steph’s father was friends with Edward Nygma. The Riddler spent some time living in Steph’s house with their family. They probably had to share a bathroom (imagine that chaos).’

At eight years old, Stephanie Brown knew that there was something rather peculiar about all these strange people that often dropped by her house. Her father’s friends were weird, like really weird. But then again, her father was kind of weird himself and birds of the same feather did tend to flock together, at least that’s how the old saying goes.

For a while, she didn’t really seem to care much about who dropped by (hey at least her old man was still capable of making friends), but when it came to the only bathroom in the Brown household… then it started to matter a little bit more.

First, there was that lady who always wore green with crazy red hair that constantly seemed to leave behind leaves in the bathroom. Where did they even come from? Or better yet, why? She never could guess or even dared to ask; all she knew was that she had to pick up all these damned leaves because her parents couldn’t be arsed to do so. Or at least in her mother’s case, barely aware or conscious enough to do so.

Then there was the even odder green haired man who just had to use up all their toilet paper every single time. It was always a nightmare using the bathroom after him because he just tossed the toilet paper about, and that was honestly just a waste! Not to mention a mess to clean up after. Especially when wet, by then, it was no longer even salvageable.

Call her slightly controlling, but it was these little things that slowly began to irritate her. After all, she was just a kid who wanted to use the bathroom in her own damn house. But what could she do? They were the big bad adults that often came and left her home as they pleased, taking their little weird bathroom quirks along with them, and she could do nothing but tolerate it. For now, at least.

* * *

It was only when she was thirteen years old, when the nail finally hit the coffin and she truly developed a minor possessiveness over her bathroom rights and time. It all began with that time her father’s ‘friend’, Edward freaking Nygma, stayed over for a while. Or rather much too long in her opinion.

At that age, Stephanie was going through a phase.

Like all teenagers at that age range, she was a bit more sensitive to comments and opinions, especially in regards to her appearance and how her peers perceived her – the usual teenage concerns and worries. Because of that, the blonde had made it a habit of hers to try and take better care of her appearance and looks, which often resulted her needing the bathroom for a good extended period of time in the morning before catching the bus to school.

Now, to avoid getting into conflicts with her parents and their little guest at the time, this often involved waking up a good two hours earlier than everyone else in the Brown household to get ready. And all had been well, that was until one particular morning.

It was five am, and like usual, Stephanie Brown was getting ready to start her morning routine with a quick shower – only to discover that the bathroom door was locked.

“It’s occupied.” Came the muffled replied of one Edward Nygma from the other side of the door.

Sighing, the blonde withheld her inner frustrations. “Do you know how much longer you’ll be, Mr. Nygma?” No need to blow up in front of the man, she already got a scolding from her parents (especially her father) the last time she let her temper flare at their unusual guest. No, she needed the bathroom, and there was no need to irritate the villain further.

“Maybe five more minutes.”

Shrugging to herself, the blonde resided to waiting outside the bathroom door. She guessed that was fine, she could wait another five minutes. It just meant that she would have to cut down on a few things in her routine.

Five minutes turned to ten, and soon, it turned to an hour.

At six am, Stephanie Brown reached her breaking point and was banging on the bathroom door, ready to break it down. Unfortunately for her, her father had come down to give her a scolding, and Edward Nygma never even opened the door once. She would later come to learn that the man had been much too preoccupied with a crossword puzzle that he had never even bothered to look away from the newspaper.

Thus, for the first time in the blonde teenager’s life since entering middle school, she was forced with the decision to either wait for the bathroom to finally be free and get to school a few hours late, or to just forget about it all and bail on her routine. Sadly, for her, her mother had already made the decision for her, shoving her out of the front door with her purple backpack in hand.

Crystal Brown did not even bat an eye to her daughter’s less than presentable appearance that morning. Whether it was due to drowsiness, or because she genuinely didn’t care, the blonde teen didn’t know. And ironically, the day itself had gone fine. In fact, she learned that nobody really cared about her appearance, or at least that’s what they told her.

Nevertheless, the day would never be forgotten, and had already mentally marked itself in the blonde’s mind for the rest of her life. She held a grudge against Edward Nygma after that day, one that she still held onto during her time as Batgirl.

In fact, it was a rather obvious grudge. One that all the Bats seemed to pick up on.

* * *

“Are they?”

Tim was confused, very confused by the scene before him. He’d seen Steph get mad before, especially when fighting crime at times, but this… this was new.

Damian tsked beneath his breath, his arms folded across his chest as he watched on, with disapproval. “I don’t understand why Brown so vehemently insists on hunting him down herself.”

“She did?”

“Wasn’t blondie patrolling on the other side of Gotham as well?” asked Jason, putting his two cents into this conversation as he watched the little scene before him with amusement.

Damian scowled, “she was,” he told them. “But then Oracle called, and mentioned that the Riddler had been sighted…”

And here she was.

“Have you noticed though?” pointed out Jason, leaning forward to get a closer look. “She keeps mentioning something along the lines of the bathroom, crossword puzzles and rubber ducks whenever she’s chasing after him.”

Damian shrugged; he couldn’t care less about the things that Brown spouted half of the time. “Perhaps he pulled one of her last time and now she’s just getting her revenge.”

‘Well she’s getting revenge alright,’ Tim could not help but mentally note as he observed. There was something in the way she addressed him, it caught his attention.

“No, I don’t think so,” replied Jason, he had picked it up too, “it seems more personal in a way.” There was a familiarity in her tone.

Then again, her father was a villain. It wouldn’t be too far off to say that Stephanie and Nygma may had crossed paths before.

“She knows him.” On a personal level at least.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too.” Responded Jason.

At that, Damian snorted. “Not just Nygma.” He informed them. “It appears that Brown holds a grudge against a number of Gotham’s low levelled criminals.” If there was one thing he noticed from patrolling with the blonde, it was that she must have had a personal hit list written on the back of her mind when she was out on the prowl.

“Really? Anything in common?” questioned Tim, curiously.

“Her bathroom.”

* * *

And linked to her bathroom it was indeed.

To say that the day Edward Nygma finally left their house, she had never been so much happier. She had celebrated, she was free. Finally, she could return to her usual routine and there would no longer be fights over the bathroom.

But of course, the moment was short lived.

Just because one little villain didn’t visit their bathroom anymore, it didn’t mean that others wouldn’t. After all, her father did like to rub shoulders with the scums of Gotham from time to time, especially more so once he had returned from prison the first time.

It had been a few years since a villain (her joke of a father not included) had last stepped foot into their house, and by then, a fifteen-year-old Stephanie had started to enjoy the small luxuries of bath bombs. They weren’t cheap and she often had to save up her pocket money to even afford a single bath bomb, but hey, they were her pride and joy.

So, to say that she was fuming when she had walked into their family bathroom to discover that some of her father’s guests had decided to make a great big mess of the place, and toss her beloved items around, would be a grave understatement. She was incensed and had wanted to beat them to a pulp, but they were bigger than her, and there was no way her father would take her side. Particularly not when he was trying to buddy them up for his personal benefits.

It pissed her off. It made her so mad but she held it in. She wouldn’t act now, no. She would get her revenge later; she swore on it.

From that night onwards, she not only decided that she would keep her bathroom necessities in her personal bedroom for safekeeping, but she had also engraved each of those lovely guest’s faces into her mind. And when the time came as she took her mantle as both Spoiler, and later on Batgirl, revenge she did get indeed. Of course, she had to made it justifiable but the fact that they were always caught red handed in some sort of criminal activity just made it oh so much easier for her.

* * *

Now, you would think that after watching her spend various nights hunting down her childhood enemies that they should have known better to be a little more cautious when it came to using her bathroom. But no, even they had to make a mess of things. Simple, little things.

At nineteen years old, and in her own small apartment located a short distance away from Gotham University, Stephanie Brown was even more possessive over her bathroom. Not a bathroom that she would have to share with a roommate, nope, her very own personal bathroom.

However, this didn’t mean that it was exclusively only her that used it – no.

Unfortunately for the blonde, there was always going to be the occasional crime fighter who would drop by if they were in the neighbourhood on their usual patrols, and in desperate need of a quick bathroom break; one that did not involve seedy back alley bars, gas stations or diners. It irked her, but it’s not like she could outright stop them, especially not when they had invited themselves inside already, or were in the midst of their business.

But that was not the worst part, the worst part was that just by looking at her bathroom and noticing the little differences in her small homemade heaven, she could already tell who was the bastard who couldn’t hold it in.

First there was Jason Todd, the man who didn’t drop by that often, but when he did – he always left the toilet seat up. Always. Sometimes he said hello, but only if he got caught, and that wasn’t often since he rarely even patrolled around her area to begin with.

Then there was Tim, oh dear sweet Timothy Drake, the boy wonder who did say hello, and actually did try to message beforehand; key word being ‘try’ – now Tim just needed to stop using her favourite (not to mention slightly out of her price range, and a splurge) soap as handwash. It was not handwash! It was far from that, and to rub even more salt to wound, dear old Tim did not even return it to its rightful place once he used it, which was not that hard considering how small her bathroom was compared to his to begin with. And don’t get her started on his excessive toilet paper wastage.

Finally, there was Damian Wayne – the one who dropped by the most, and it wasn’t even for the bathroom sometimes, it was just to berate her. Not that she cared too much, the kid was just ten years old after all, he probably had nothing else to do. So, she didn’t mind him too much. But when it came to her bathroom, he needed to stop using her face towel to dry his hands, there was another towel for that but no, he did not seem to listen. Now whether the young boy actually didn’t pay attention when she told him, or whether he was doing it out spite, which she wouldn’t be surprised if he was, it still irritated her to no end.

And slowly, but most certainly, surely, one by one her fellow masked heroes found themselves at the end of her bathroom wrath, and most importantly, her fist. Her gloved, armed fist.

After all, there was only so much a girl could finally take before she reached a breaking point, and trust her, you really didn’t want to see her then.

Stephanie Brown was downright terrifying when she needed to be, and one Edward Nygma could testify to that.

**Author's Note:**

> One, this came out much longer than I anticipated.
> 
> Two, this is low key related my experience with certain housemates and flatmates, whom I shall not name. 
> 
> Three, I nearly named this 'The Grudge' but it just didn't see to work for me, especially when I keep envisioning the horror movie. Nope, didn't suit this bathroom comedy story.


End file.
